1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hinge arrangement for a portable electronic device and, more particularly, to a double acting hinge arrangement.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
A Jacob's Ladder is a folk toy consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbons. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. However, this effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over. A Jacob's Ladder is usually constructed of six wood blocks. Each block is connected to the adjacent blocks by a Jacob's Ladder flipping hinge arrangement which depends on a counterintuitive arrangement of interlaced ribbons which allow each block to act as if hinged to the next one at either of its two ends. The same mechanism is used in the 1980s toy Rubik's Magic but with plastic strings run diagonally across squares, with the result that the squares can hinge along either of two adjacent sides.
Portable electronic devices, such as mobile telephones for example, have been known to have a flip type of configuration, such as a clam-shell design for example. The cover of the telephone is flipped open about 165 degrees from a closed position. This is often called a flip phone. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0212956, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a mobile terminal with a hinge that allows two housing sections to flip about 360 degrees relative to each other. It is known to use electrical flat flexible cable through a hinge of a flip phone as illustrated in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0212956 to electrically connect components in the two housing sections. It is also known to provide mobile telephones with other functionalities, such as a camera, or a music player, or a game player for example.
Usually, a multi-functionality product is either a camera, a phone, etc., one at a time. However, the controls for these different functionalities are visible at the same time, such as controls for a camera functionality and controls for a phone functionality for example. This can confuse users.
There is a desire to provide a new type of portable electronic device which can be reconfigured into different types of form factor configurations and avoid the confusion noted above.